Koshburger, New Year. New Hope. (NL BSS)

This post has been edited 17 time(s), it was last edited by Koshburger: 24.01.2010 07:31.

Poker Blog

Introduction.
Hi and welcome to my second poker blog. My first blog failed due to real life issues needed to be addressed before poker, so it fell out of my list of priorities. Now I’m back and ready to play some cards.

I play on pokerstars. Currently NL5. I play 6 tables and use tableninja, elephant and equilator. When I mass multitable I use TableOfInterest.
I move up when I have 1000BB of the next limit and move down when I have 1000BB of the lower limit.

About me.
My names Dan, I’m 19 years young. I live in New Zealand (By Antarctica) and I love playing poker. I study at CPIT and work part time at a security company. I’ve always loved numbers and competition, poker has really taken my grasp as a hobby and I hope to earn a good chunk of money from it in my lifetime and maybe even make a career out of it.

Poker Experience.
I played poker on and off over the last 2 years, I’ve had very little success. I think I am just starting to get the hang of things now in order to pull a profit. At the time of writing this I’m down $3,870NZD. This is very upsetting but I know I have improved 1000% and can now pull a steady profit.

Future.
I see myself playing poker long term, I’m just coming out of the fish stage and I think its a great time to start up this blog. I’ve been told I have talent and the skill to go far, I just need to focus my mind on the task at hand and learn patience.

Current Situation.
My bankroll has taken a beating. Upswings, Downswings and stupidity. I decided to stop playing SSS and really learn poker with BSS. I read the articles, printed the charts and had a few practise runs which went great. Now its time for me to get into the real business.Starting Bankroll: $149.66
I guarantee some of you will frown upon what I’m doing at the moment. I am playing BSS in NL25, which is way out of BRM. I really want to give high limits ago and I’m prepared to redeposit if I go broke. I have made a good choice to drop down to NL10 if I lose 1 full buy-in in 1 day. If I get up to $350, then I will be withdrawing $100 and starting on NL10.
Hope you all enjoy the read, I’ll be updating the blog at least once a week.

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by LuborC: 14.01.2010 10:29.

Hi,

I just thought I let you know that the decade doesn't begin till 2011 with 2010 still being the last year of the first decade of the 21. century..

Also how much is 3.7K in USD? If it's close to 1:1 and this is your first year trying to actually profit form poker I think that's just a bit too high of a goal.. Also 1mil hands is A LOT for a BSS player. You might want to rethink those goals because a) they're really really hard to reach so you'll probably only be disappointed and b) they will put a lot of pressure on you and you might end up losing even more trying to reach those goals.

Your priority should be getting better as a player and if you just can't go without some sort of a money goal then make it really easy to reach..

I'm sorry to say but... your goal of withdrawing into the green... It doesnt really get along well with the comment "I am willing to deposit If I go broke"... With that amount of buyins, I'm sorry but. It's very likely to happen.
Especially seen that you are still not an experienced player, and NL25 isnt really the best place to start.

I wish you would realize the importance of bankroll management, but I guess time will teach you your lession. (I am kind of surprised it hasnt already, seen the amount of money you have already lost).

first of all, Welcome
then, vonki has real point with the BRM. I dont know if you already studied the BSS, or u just have some general ideas about it.. I d suggest you to read at least brozne articles on BSS before start playing, nl5 would be place to start I suppose..
Then, I would like to give you an advice about your poker goals.
Its nice to set goals, everyone should do that, but I dont think its good idea to set year goals.. I mean.. 1mil hands is pretty much.. Who knows what gonna happen, mby u ll decide to go for 2months somewhere abroad n u wont play poker there at all..
Best way to go is setting weekly goals, cuz you have pretty much good idea about what is up next week. Which will enable you to set the most realistic goals..
Then - never set goals which you cant accomplish by yourself (if some other factor than your will is involved, then its not a goal, but a wish) - such as "next week I ll win 10buyins".. However hard you try, its not in your hands whether you will or not win those 10buyins.

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Koshburger: 15.01.2010 05:15.

Thanks for the comments guys! I have really read and considered each one.
First of all I'm only playing in NL25 until I lose ONE buyin. The main reason for this is to clear the $50 bonus quickly (30 more vpps). If I lose this buyin im immediatly dropping down to NL10.

Second, I looked at my goals and you guys are correct. some are unrealistic. However I see myself playing a LOT of poker this year and I think I can still withdraw into the green.

I have adjusted my played hands goal to 250,000 because BSS is very slow and I will only be 4 tabling.

Went on a sick tilt start of the week and lost most of my bankroll. This shows I really need to focus on when I go on tilt and learning to walk away.
The thing that triggered my tilt is my girlfriend and I fighting.

I worked my way back up and my current bankroll is $135 Pokerstars.
I’ve decided to transfer to party poker or Titan poker, suggestions on which would be awesome from you guys even if it’s a completely different room; I will be withdrawing / depositing $125 and starting on NL5 BSS. I could also stay on pokerstars but I feel there are a lot of regulars / sharks here hence the reason of leaving.
As some of you have commented, bankroll management is 1000% essential. I have re read the articles on bankroll management and imprinted them in my brain.
With the FPPS on poker stars I will be buying Daniel Negranus book to further my knowledge.

Well played, I think..
Only the last hand, when he reraised on that turn, there's not much u beat.. dont think he's reraising there with AT .. Dont rly think he would try to bluff there all that often.

Anyway, good to see that u r sticking with proper BRM, im sure you ll get rewarded for it
Good luck!

After a lot of thought I've decided to keep my bankroll on pokerstars.
There is a huge amount of players and it would be impossible to class them all as sharks. I think I will need to just need to select my tables carefully.
I also really like the interface, the bonuses and items available in the store.

No other updates for now, I'm in the VIP 100FPP $30,000 GTD tomorrow morning, (NZT) I'm pretty good at tourniments although I am a cash game player, will be some fun

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Koshburger: 16.01.2010 23:35.

Well this weekend’s been GREAT. I have spent about 18 hours total studying strategy and learning theory. It has really reflected in my game. I enjoy poker more because I am playing it properly and I’m confident. I have about 25 pages of notes taken from the strategy articles.
Had a nice session on Saturday night that last all the way through the night playing 4 tables, I played a total of 1197 hands on NL5.
I have learnt the importance of BRM both in theory cramming and in practise. Below are some SICK hands. The first 2 happened on the SAME table against the SAME guy back to back! The sickest thing is I didn’t tilt; I lost 3 Buy-Ins in about 20 seconds and didn’t tilt. I have certainly learnt a lot this week. Had a few other beats after it too as you can see in the graph it was a pretty intense downswing.

This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Koshburger: 24.01.2010 07:36.

Week Review 17/1/10

I start my weeks on Sundays; Sunday night I played about 750 hands and managed to get my bankroll breakeven  (2000 hand mark on the chart) I really put the concept of small pots for small hands and big pots for big hands into play. My sets were stacking people and my TPTK were taking down small to medium pots. I’ve really come a long way and I know there’s still a long way to go.
Responses on hands I’ve posted are mostly positive which I’m very happy with.
Monday Day Had a good run, up about 2 buyins. I continued on with the great play, I’m taking the evening off to have dinner with the girlfriend and do some study.
Tuesday I had such a great day, at peak I was up 600BBs but then my second session at night fucked all that. Half was from bad play e.g. calling with top pair when I know I’m beat. And all in with flush draws on the flop only not to hit. The other 50% of the downswing was from coolers and bad beats. My nut flushes were beaten by full houses, sets being overset and so on. On Tuesday I am down 218BB which is crappy. Tomorrow is another day as my granddad once said.
Wednesday, as the clock struck 12 my night session continued... To go downhill. I was defiantly on tilt. I stopped at 12:05 thankfully but in that 5 minutes I managed to lose 2 more buy ins. I have decided on applying a stop loss limit. 5 Buy ins from my peak of the day entitles me to a 1 hour break at least. Still need to work on my tilt. Wednesday day session: I’ve starting getting quicker at decisions so I’ve upgraded to 6 tables to test it out. I had a great start, recovered 2 buyins. Then my friend came over with beer and I started to get drunk... I lost about 4 buyins then stupidly opened an NL50 table... Fuck I’m an idiot. I defiantly won’t be going pro if this is the kind of shit that’s going to happen. Got queens a bit into it and lost a full $50 buy in against kings. Stupidly kept going with my last $47 and lost it all with a 3 barrel bluff. Obviously I still have a lot to learn.
My tilt just erupted and something unleashed from within. I deposited another $125 and immediately bought in to 2 NL50 Tables seeking vengeance. I managed to double up on one, thankfully I had work which brought me away from poker for 6 hours and allowed me to cool down. When I got back I continued to play but on NL25 tables. Slowly worked myself back up and then hit a downswing. People flopped sets over my set, my AA was cracked by a straight with Q8o and my AK hit an ace on the flop with a dry board but was against a set. This rapidly decreased my bankroll by $75. Just when I thought I was doing awesome... Recovered $18 of that and went to bed thinking. Thinking I know I can’t go back to NL5, so I decided to drop to NL10 tomorrow. Wise move...
Thursday NL10. At this point my bankroll was $128 including the $125 deposit. I still had hopes to withdraw it back and start again at NL5 with $100 and put this week behind me... I continued playing NL10 and ended up on another -$15 after 1k hands then my internet connection went down so I called it a night. The next morning I had a great session playing NL10, recovered the -$15 and continued up to +$53.50. I then moved up to NL25 to see if I could make it to $250 so I can withdraw $125 and move back to NL10. I had a small urge to just continue with NL10 but my friend said I should give NL25 a shot. I gave it a try and started pretty solidly and worked up another +$24 then hit a downswing of 2 buyins but didn’t give up. I continued about another 500 hands and managed to get the 2 buyins back  Bankroll stood at $174.50. I was looking good. Called it a night at +$77.35 and had a nice dinner with my girlfriend then went to work. In the evening I decided to Withdraw $125 and start at NL5 again with $50. After my 5 hour shift at work I decided against NL5 because I was crushing NL10 so much I would start there all the way up to $625 BR. So here I go... 2am Saturday Morning. Ended up +$13, got really tired so posted a few hands on the forums for evaluation then watched a poker video and went to sleep. This week has been one hell of an experience so far. I hope I can build my bankroll up as steady as it has been over the next week in NL10.
Saturday – Played some NL10 in the morning and lost 3 buy ins to bad beats and a cooler. Bankroll was at $40 so I decided to go down to NL5 once again and STICK to BRM. I’ve got to learn it sooner than later so I may as well learn it now. After a short session I was back up to $58, off to work now! Tomorrow morning I’m in the 30k GTD tournament for fun, and then I’ll be playing some cash games. Also the 2nd Daniel Negranu book was on sale today for 1000fpps so I bought it  now I’m expecting both in the mail! Also I decided to switch my BRM to 1000BB for each level, and drop when I have 1000BB remaining of the previous level.
Sunday – Saturday night I caught my girlfriend cheating so I realised I would be very prone to tilt today. I definitely treaded carefully. Grr I was looking forward to playing a good 12 hours of non tilt poker ha-ha. The tournament went bad, didn’t cash. Played a solid morning session of 1265 hands with a win rate of 27BB/100. 2pm I gathered my entire ex girlfriend’s belongings and dumped it outside her flat, lmfao classic. My afternoon was awesome was running hot still, found a guy on tilt and pushed him further until he challenged me to NL50 heads up, stacked him within 10 hands putting my bankroll to $117 ha-ha. Time for NL10! I also unlocked my 3rd stella bonus woohoo.

(Sorry about the wall of text, I just write in a word doc as the week goes by) The graph below explains my week with a glimpse.